Double murderer dies in hospital

Donald Forbes was a notorious criminal [Pic: Daily Record]

A double murderer who was once branded Scotland's most dangerous man and sentenced to death has died at the age of 73 in hospital.

Donald Forbes was given the death penalty for murder in 1958 but it was later commuted to a jail sentence.

He was freed in 1970 but killed and was jailed again. He had been in custody in Greenock Prison for drugs offences.

The Scottish Prison Service said he died on Saturday and added that his next of kin had been informed.

A Fatal Accident Inquiry will be held as a matter of routine.

Drugs baron

Forbes was found guilty in 1958 of the murder of Edinburgh night watchman Allan Fisher during a robbery at a fish factory and sentenced to hang.

He later had his death sentence reduced to life imprisonment.

Forbes was freed in 1970 but weeks later he stabbed a man to death in a pub brawl and was jailed again.

One year on, he escaped from the maximum security wing at Peterhead Prison.

He was recaptured and was in jail until 1998 before having five years of freedom.

Forbes was branded Scotland's oldest drugs baron at 68 when he was jailed in 2003 for dealing cocaine and cannabis from a Glasgow flat and jailed for 12 years.